


The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

by Starofwinter



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Creepy, Hurt No Comfort, I swear it ends as well as you can hope for with these tags, M/M, Murder, Sad with a Happy Ending, Spoilery warnings inside, gothic horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 05:06:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14394915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: Love covers a multitude of sins.





	The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilery warnings can be found in the end notes.

It starts the day after he moves in.  Anomaly is carrying the mail upstairs to the apartment, and looks up just in time to keep from running into the person standing halfway up.  “Oh! Hey, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.  You just moved in?” They have a sweet smile, flashing from behind tendrils of hair falling in their face.

“Yeah, I’m Anomaly, I just moved in with my boyfriend, Nibral.”  There’s a warm flush in his chest as he says it - they’re moving fast, but really, his apartment renewal was coming up, and there was no reason  _ not _ to move in with Nibral, so… 

Something changes, a sad little twist to their lips.  “Nice to meet you, Anomaly, I’m Sparrow. Listen, there’s something you need to know about-”

The front door opens, and Anomaly turns to see Nibral walking in.  He smiles, and when he turns back to Sparrow, they’re gone. He almost wonders what they were going to say, but he’ll catch them again some other time.

* * *

 

Things are great, for a while.  Nibral is charming, and so, so good to him.  There are little moments, when he loses his temper, but Anomaly gives as good as he gets.  Their fights are wall-shaking, and it’s after one of those that Anomaly meets Sparrow again.  Nibral had stormed out, and Anomaly was left to wander aimlessly through the apartment, cleaning up broken glass and staring at the hole in the wall.  He finally gives up on it, and shrugs on his coat to go get some spackle, but as he walks out of the apartment, Sparrow is on the stairs again. “Anomaly!”  They look relieved, and he dredges up a smile for them.

“Hey, Sparrow.  You doing alright?”

“I’m fine- I heard you arguing, is everything okay?”  They study his face with a worried look, and he shrugs.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says, smiling, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Is he gone?”  

“Yeah, he stormed off a little while ago, he’ll be back, hopefully.”  Anomaly can’t help the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach at the thought of Nibral never coming back - he doesn’t know if it’s fear or longing.

Sparrow looks away before turning back to him.  “You should go, while he’s gone. It’s not safe for you to stay.  You have friends, right? Just pack what you need and run as far as you can.”

Anomaly blinks, caught off-guard.  “I can’t- why would I want to do that?  It was just a fight, it wasn’t that serious.”

“It’s going to get worse, trust me.  He’s already telling you things, that he’s the only one who really loves you-”

“You don’t know him, look, just leave it alone, it’s none of your business,” Anomaly snaps, feeling defensive - they  _ don’t _ know Nibral, and they don’t know him, “Just stop.”  He storms past Sparrow, but they step out of the way before he can actually shoulder-check them the way he kind of wants to, letting him pass.  He ignores the worried look and the way they call his name, storming out into the snow.

When he gets back, two cups of coffee in hand and the spackle tucked into his bag, Sparrow isn’t anywhere to be seen, but Nibral is in the apartment.  He smiles, wrapping him up in a hug and pretending like nothing is wrong. Anomaly doesn’t have the energy for another fight, so he hugs Nibral back and kisses his cheek, and lets everything be okay.

* * *

 

Anomaly finds the photos a month later, looking for a jacket Nibral had asked him to find.  They’re boxed up in the back of the closet, mixed in with letters and little mementos of a relationship.  In all the pictures, Nibral stands next to someone else, the two of them smiling or gazing into one another’s eyes with pure adoration.  He blinks and pulls the top photo out of the box for a better look. He knows the person next to Nibral, pressed to his side with his hand wrapped tight around their waist - it’s Sparrow, a smile on their lips and a flush to their cheeks he hasn’t seen when they meet on the stairs.  They’re wearing a ring, bright gold and sparkling in the sunlight, one that matches the one on his own finger. Something in his chest twists, and he drops the photo back into the box and shoves all of it further into the closet. 

He finally brings it up the next week, sitting at the table with Nibral.  “Who’s Sparrow?” he asks, keeping his tone casual. He knows the second he says it that he’s made a mistake.  

Nibral’s expression darkens.  “Who told you about Sparrow?” he demands, his voice going sharp and hard.

“One of the neighbors-” Anomaly at least has the sense to lie, even if he doesn’t keep his mouth shut like the voice in the back of his head is screaming at him to, “And I found some pictures while I was looking for that coat-”

“What did I tell you about talking to the neighbors without me?”  Nibral stands up, shoving his chair back, and when he storms around the table, Anomaly isn't quick enough to get to his feet before Nibral knocks him off his chair.

The whole world stops.  For all their fights, all their arguments that end with smashed glasses and holes in the walls, Nibral has never laid a hand on him.  

“Anomaly…”  He flinches when Nibral reaches for him, but he just lifts him to his feet.  “I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to do that,” he says, carefully cupping Anomaly’s stinging cheek, “I just… I don’t ask for much, do I?  I really don’t. But I  _ need _ you to do what I ask.  Come on, let’s put some ice on that while I clean up in here.”  

Anomaly is still in too much shock to protest, and he lets Nibral lead him to the couch and sit him down with an ice pack.  He’s still there after the kitchen is cleaned up, and Nibral sits down beside him to wrap an arm around his side to guide him to lean against his chest.  “Don’t ask about Sparrow again,” he says, and Anomaly just nods.

* * *

 

Things don’t get better.  Anomaly stays in the most of the time lately - he doesn’t have many friends anymore, not that he had a lot to begin with, but Nibral had been so hurt when he would choose to spend time with  _ them _ instead of him - and he’s taken to wandering around the building, exploring all the nooks and crannies he can find.  When he’s not doing that, he sleeps. It’s better than staying awake and feeling like he’s going insane staring at the yellowed, peeling-paint walls and pacing the floor like some kind of ghost, haunting the apartment, trapped forever, to be forgotten by everyone.

He dreams about the basement most of all, for some reason.  The one time he’d been down there, it was empty and wet and  _ creepy _ , so he’d gotten back upstairs before he got a decent look at it.  Nibral told him not to go down there again, but he’s getting less and less eager to follow Nibral’s instructions.

Well, it’s not like he has anything better to do.

He heads out of the apartment.  Sparrow is on the stairs again, and Anomaly takes a moment to really look at them.  They look almost nothing like the pictures he found anymore. They look ashen, their eyes dull and hollow, and their smile is half-hearted, at best.  

“What did he do to you?” he asks, reaching for Sparrow, but they step out of reach.

“What he’ll do to you if you don’t  _ leave. _ ”

Anomaly shakes his head.  “I can’t. I love him.”

“So did I,” Sparrow says, and they look away.  “Where were you going?”

“The basement.  Only place I haven’t seen in this fucking building.”

Sparrow freezes in place, and Anomaly feels a chill down his spine.  “Okay,” they finally say, “I’ll go with you.”

* * *

 

The basement is colder than he remembers.  Anomaly wraps his jacket tighter around himself, shivering as he makes his way through piles of junk, occasionally pulling something out to get a closer look.  

He’s hyper aware of every sound, of his own breath, and of Sparrow, hanging off to the side.  They look anxious, but not as cold as he feels, and he’s jealous. “If you want to go back upstairs, I don’t blame you,” Anomaly says with a little grin, but they shake their head.

“I want to stay with you, you shouldn’t be alone down here.”

“What, it’s not like there’s a monster under the stairs,” he teases, and he’s pleased when he gets a smile. 

He goes back to exploring - it’s still a miserable place, but he can almost forget everything else for a little while.  Hell, he’s having  _ fun _ , even if he feels a little voyeuristic, going through the stored belongings of whoever had the apartments before them - some of the pictures are faded sepia, water-stained, clearly forgotten.  

He finds himself at the old furnace.  It isn’t used anymore; they have a modern heating unit, Nibral had told him that the old one was taken out years ago…  Anomaly snorts a little at the lie. He doesn’t know why he’d bother with it, but now he’s curious. It feels like something  _ wants _ him to look inside, and he can’t resist the urge.

The door isn’t rusted shut, the way he’d half-expected.  It swings open slowly, and Anomaly crouches down to look inside.  There’s nothing, at least from what he can see, and he shakes off the way the hairs at the back of his neck rise.  He takes a deep breath, about to stand up, when something catches his eye. 

It’s the flicker of his flashlight on gold.  

Anomaly shines the beam into the ashes, and his breath catches in his chest.  He knows that ring. It’s the one Sparrow wore in the photos, the one  _ he’s- _

He turns around, falling flat on his ass as he looks up at Sparrow, his breath hitching as he tries to speak.  His chest aches with his skipping heartbeats, and he finally whispers, “You’re dead-”

Sparrow nods.  

All his fear focuses into the question he already knows the answer to.  “He killed you, didn’t he?” He doesn’t want to think Nibral would do it, but somehow, he knows.  Nibral is violent and angry, and he  _ knows _ it.  He didn’t want to believe it, but he’s holding the proof in his hand.  

“He did.  He found me while I was packing my bags to leave, and…  He was furious. I didn’t want to believe he’d go that far, but I ran anyway.  He caught me on the stairs, and- he hated me. I saw it in his eyes. That’s the last thing I remember, besides his hand on my throat.”

“I’m- I’m sorry,” Anomaly says, “I’m sorry.”

Sparrow shakes their head.  “That’s why I’ve been telling you to leave, I don’t want this to happen to you.  I can’t let it happen to anyone else.”

Anomaly nods, still shaking, with his heart in his throat, choking off his breath.  “I’ll leave-” He freezes as he hears the front door, his eyes wide as they meet Sparrow’s.

“Anomaly?”

He swallows hard, forcing a shaky smile onto his lips as he walks up the stairs, trying to pretend nothing is wrong.  That he doesn’t know his fiancé is a murderer. That he isn’t terrified for his own life. “Hey, sorry, I was-”

“You were in the basement.  Where I told you not to go.”  Nibral’s gaze goes cold and dark, and Anomaly’s smile falls.  He tries a last, desperate run for the door, but Nibral is faster and stronger than he is.  He catches Anomaly’s wrist, twisting it until Anomaly cries out, but he clamps another strong hand over his mouth.  “Stay quiet,” he snarls, and Anomaly instinctively struggles harder until Nibral wraps the hand that had been on his wrist around his throat, dragging him upstairs.  

His terrified eyes meet Sparrow’s, and he reaches out, but their hand brushes through his like smoke.  They whisper his name, and their eyes are full of tears as they press a hand to their lips. “ _ I’m sorry _ ,” is the last thing he hears before Nibral shoves him into the apartment.   

“I know what you did,” Anomaly snaps, glaring at him.

“It was an accident- if they’d just listened to me- if  _ you _ would just listen to me-”

“So you can kill me too?”

Nibral shakes his head.  “I don’t want to kill you, An’ika, I would never hurt you on purpose.  You’re just so  _ stubborn _ .  I loved that about you, but now… I just need you to  _ listen _ .”

Anomaly pauses, wary as a trapped animal.  “Listen to what?” he asks, “What could you possibly say that would make this better?”

“Just… just sit down, we can talk about this, be  _ reasonable _ .  That’s not too much to ask, is it?  To just have a little faith in me?” 

Anomaly can’t help himself.  He laughs, hysterical and on the verge of tears, shaking in shock and fear.  “You killed Sparrow, you bastard, why the  _ fuck _ would I listen to anything you have to say?”  

“Because you love me,” Nibral says, reaching out, almost close enough to touch.

With his heart in his throat, Anomaly shakes his head.  “No, I don’t. Not anymore.” He darts to the door, just as Nibral’s hand closes on empty air.

Panic clouds Anomaly’s thoughts, and he doesn’t really know what happens next.  He makes the top of the stairs, before he feels Nibral’s hand on his shoulder; maybe he trips, maybe Nibral does, he sees Sparrow for one brief flash before he hits his head on the ornate stair rail, and everything goes black.

When he wakes up, it’s to a paramedic crouching next to him, fastening a neck brace, and his partner rests a hand on Anomaly’s chest as he struggles.  “I need you to stay still-” he says, but Anomaly tries to push himself up anyway.

“Nibral?” he manages, despite the ringing in his ears and the way his vision swims.

“You’re alright, just stay where you are.  Someone will talk with you at the hospital.”

“Is he- he fell-  is he dead?” His breath hitches.  “Is he gone?”

The way they look at each other is enough, even if he can’t see another pair of paramedics wheeling out a gurney, covered with a sheet.  

“I’m sorry,” one says, and he slumps back on the board, tears of relief streaking down his cheeks.  He doesn’t fight anymore as they carefully lift him, carrying him to the ambulance. 

The last sight he has of the building is Sparrow smiling from the doorway, bright and happy and full of joy as they wave to him and fade away, and a familiar pair of hate-filled eyes glaring down at him from the window of their apartment.  He relaxes as the ambulance doors close and they pull away, leaving the house behind. For the first time in longer than he wants to think about, he’s  _ free. _

**Author's Note:**

> More warnings: Sparrow is the ghost of Nibral's fiance, whom he murdered.


End file.
